


Pictures

by daisyisawriter91



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Past Drug Addiction, Rehabilitation, past overdose
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-26
Updated: 2018-06-26
Packaged: 2019-05-28 23:45:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15060401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/daisyisawriter91/pseuds/daisyisawriter91
Summary: Benny awakes to find his boyfriend out of bed, instead looking at some photographs that hold a dark secret.





	Pictures

**Author's Note:**

> I am putting an extra trigger warning down here: Drug addition, semi-graphic depictions of overdosing, general unpleasantness geared towards that.  
> I'd like to remind everyone that this is FICTION. If this isn't how you or a loved one coped with something of this nature, that's fine, this is different. However, is something is directly offensive, I will fix the problem if you point it out to me.  
> That being said, enjoy!

Benny awoke to an empty bed. Odd, considering he’d fallen asleep next to his boyfriend of seven months. But Garth was nowhere to be seen, and there was a light Benny could faintly see from another room.  
Benny shifted out of the covers, feet hitting the cold floors of his and Garth’s apartment. He stepped out of the bedroom and into the small hallway, bracing against the wall as he walked, still quite groggy. Still, he managed to stumble his way into the living room where Garth sat on the couch, staring at a bundle of photos.  
“Garth?” Benny called, softly. Still, Garth startled, violently, and nearly dropped the pictures. “Easy, now, cher. I ain’t gonna hurt you. You alright?”  
Garth ran a hand over his face and set down the pictures, sighing.   
“No. No, not really. My mom sent these over. And, I was hoping to tell you about this later, but…there’s no point in keeping it a secret.” Garth replied. Benny took it as his cue to sit beside his boyfriend. He began rubbing Garth’s back, soothingly, worry fully waking him up. “You met my mom, right? Ellen Singer?”   
“Yeah. Nice woman.” Benny answered.  
“Not long after my grandma got Alzheimers, she got really paranoid, took a camera everywhere she went. She took pictures of even the horrible parts of our lives. These pictures right here are from the worst part of mine. And I want you to see them.” Garth said.   
“You sure about that? You don’t have to show me, if you don’t want.” Benny assured.  
“No, I’m sure. You oughta know everything if you’re in this for the long haul.” Garth insisted. There was a grim sort of determination in his face as he said it.  
Hesitantly, Benny took the stack of photos from the table and began looking at each one.  
The first was a picture of the man Benny loved as a teenager. Seventeen or eighteen, thereabouts. He was skinnier than Benny had ever seen, dark circles under his eyes. Benny couldn’t see Garth’s outline through an over-large shirt. He was holding a can of soda and smiling, hollow, at the camera. Benny flipped to the next one.  
It was of Garth, again, with bruises on sallow skin. Dean, with an arm around Garth’s shoulders, looked nearly glowing against his younger brother, which wasn't hard. Garth looked only half-there, with slightly glassy, entirely unfocused eyes. Again, Garth wore a shirt far too large for him with a faded design Benny couldn’t even make out. He flipped to the next one, and this one made his blood run cold.  
Garth was in a hospital bed, looking worse than even in the previous photos. An IV was in his arm, but there were several bruises on both arms. One that could’ve only been made by needles. He was passed out, face covered in an oxygen mask. The hospital gown looked wrong, even on this shell of the man Benny knew. Charlie was bent over her older brother, crying. Benny couldn’t look at that picture anymore, and flipped to the next.  
Garth was a bit healthier, bruises on his arms mostly faded. He was in a wheelchair in front of a hospital, presumably the one he was in before. Dean was pushing the wheelchair, and Garth’s other siblings were crushing him in a hug from all sides. Jo was bent in front of the chair, pulling her older brother forward, Adam and Charlie on the right, Sam on the left, a giant even at seventeen. Garth was smiling. It was small, but more sincere than the other one had been.  
In the next, Garth’s father, Bobby, was nearly hugging the life out of Garth in front of an old building. The sign outside the building was mostly obscured, save for the word ‘Rehab’.   
In the final picture, Garth was sitting at a table laden with food, surrounded by his family. He was healthy and happy, beaming the same grin Benny knew so well.   
Benny set down the pictures, silently.  
“If it freaks you out and you wanna leave, I get it. It’s fine. But, at least let me tell you what happened.” Garth said, moving his hand to rest on Benny’s knee, but stopping last minute.   
The idea of Benny leaving Garth was preposterous, but he didn’t say anything, wordlessly urging Garth to go on.  
“I was sixteen when it started. Heroin, cocaine, ecstasy, anything I could get my hands on. I was spiraling out of control. I don’t even remember my reasons, that time was…a blur. I remember little moments, here and there. But why I did it doesn’t matter. When I was seventeen, I overdosed on this really bad mix of everything I could name.” Garth began. Upon seeing Benny’s widened eyes, he rushed to add: “It was an accident! I wasn’t suicidal. I didn’t wanna die. I just…I was stupid and arrogant and didn't know my limits. Dean found me in the bathroom…choking on my own puke.” Garth swallowed, nervously. Benny didn’t interject. He knew Garth needed to finish.   
“I was put in the hospital. Into rehab. I got better. It was slow going. Really slow going. But I made it happen. You know I go to group therapy every twice monthly. I just haven’t told you why. It’s to keep myself clean. I haven’t even wanted a hit since I was twenty-six, but I don’t wanna go through that again. Especially not when I got you. So, I take precautions. I keep a journal whenever I think I might want a hit. I don’t even have any aspirin in the house.” Garth concluded. “I don’t want to screw up my chances with you. If I even still got any.”  
“Garth, did you honestly think this would scare me off?” Benny asked, reaching out to touch Garth’s cheek, lightly. “I love you. Even the parts of you I don’t know about. Even the parts you don’t like. Nothing’s gonna change that. Alright? It was hard for you to tell me, but I’m glad you did.”  
“You…you don’t care?” Garth asked, disbelieving.  
“No, I do. I care that you’re healthy. That you’re happy. That I don’t lose you. But I don’t think I will. Do you?” Benny said, grabbing Garth’s hand as he spoke.  
“You won’t. You’re not gonna lose me unless you want to.” Garth replied.  
“Good. Now, whatever happens, happens. But, you and me? We’ll get through it. Both of us, alright?”  
“Alright.” Garth agreed.  
“Now, come on back to bed. You can figure out what to do with the pictures in the morning.” Benny said, rising to his feet, Garth’s hand still in his. Garth stood, but kept Benny in place for a long moment. “What?”  
“Thank you.” Garth murmured. Benny smiled.  
“Don’t mention it, darlin’. Come on. I’m not above carrying you.”   
Garth chuckled and followed Benny back to bed.  
It would be a lot to absorb, that Garth went through something so horrible, but Benny would get there. This was, after all, who he was planning to spend the rest of his life with. He wouldn’t waste that, not for anything.


End file.
